The Heroes, also known as The Shaolin Heroes, is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Wu Ma and Pao Hsueh-li and starring Ti Lung, Shih Szu and Danny Lee.
During the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court views the righteous Shaolin Temple as an eyesore and sends a group of soldiers to destroy the temple, led by chief Ko Fei (Ti Lung), a former Shaolin disciple.
Although Ko made them work as hard labors, he was actually helping them increase their physical strength to refine their martial arts.
On the surface, Ko seems to be working for the imperial court, but he was assisting his fellow disciples to recover Shaolin.
J. Doyle Wallis of DVD Talk gave the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and a positive review praising it for having "one of the better plots in kung fu filmdom" as well as the action choreography and pacing.